Byline: E. Maziya

CCBSA Manufacturing Manager with employees at the clean up event.

The City of Joburg, Pikitup, and the Elias Motsoaledi community.

On behalf of Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa, I want to thank you for the opportunity to address you today and to be part of this important waste management initiative to clean-up and clear-out illegal dumping in order to repurpose the much-needed space for the community.  

CCBSA

At CCBSA, we are leading the industry in making our value chain increasingly sustainable in the way that we manufacture our products, how we distribute them and how we sell them.

We have the scale and reach to make a real difference, and we’re using our leadership position to drive change and help put our planet on a more sustainable path.

We want our business and the communities we serve to benefit from greater shared opportunity. This is about more than the bottom line because opportunity is not measured by money alone. Opportunity means a better future for people in our local communities, and across South Africa. 

Profitability is important, but so is doing business the right way by growing with conscience.

Our Commitment

At CCBSA, people and the planet we call home are at the heart of our values. By following our values and working for a better-shared future, we create inclusive growth that benefits communities, women and youth, our customers, our employees and our shareholders.

As a business, we are aware that we cannot do it alone. Through our ongoing partnership with City of Joburg and Pikitup, CCBSA is committed to supporting the Elias Motsoaledi community’s call-to-action to lessen the impact of waste on our environment.

The challenge of collecting waste is one that cannot be overcome by one entity. We need to collaborate and invest in this programme to sustain it.

Today, CCBSA has provided recourses – this includes cleaning equipment, refreshments and t-shirts for the community.    

Our Involvement

As Africa’s largest Coca-Cola bottler, we take a leading role in partnering with industry, NGOs and governments to increase recycling rates through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programmes.

We have made good progress in parts of the country through our waste initiatives.

In 2022, CCBSA exceeded the target of 84% recycling rate by 37%. Our 2023 target is 95% – which translates to an equivalent of 9 of every 10 bottles sold, collected and recycled. To date, we are 90% toward exceeding the target by the end of this year.

The Separation at Source programme is active in 19 areas across Johannesburg; since 2022, we have collected 1115 tonnes. 131 reclaimers are participating in the programme – which has created employment for 27 people, including women and youth.

Background: World Without Waste

We partner with local communities, NGOs, government, and industry bodies to clean up existing packaging – all as part of a sustainable global packaging initiative: World Without Waste 2030, launched by The Coca-Cola Company in 2018 to help end the plastic waste crisis.

The interconnected global challenges of packaging waste and climate change have made this a focus for our business and communities.

Our sustainable packaging strategy aims to create systemic change through a circular economy for our packaging – from how bottles and cans are designed and manufactured to how they’re recycled and reused.

We have a responsibility to help solve the global plastic waste crisis, and we’re leveraging our scale and reach across markets to achieve our sustainability goals to reduce waste pollution and our carbon footprint.

We have set ambitious goals for our business to take responsibility for our packaging across its lifecycle and reduce ocean pollution.  We have the following goals in Africa:

• Help collect a bottle or can for every one we sell by 2030
• Focus on making all our packaging 100% recyclable by 2025
• Have 50% recycled content in our packaging by 2030, and
• Make 25% of our packaging reusable (returnable) by 2030.

Conclusion

In conclusion, by following our values and working for a better shared future, we create inclusive growth that benefits communities, women and youth, our customers, our employees and our shareholders.

It is for the mentioned statements that we saw it critical to collaborate with the Elias Motsoaledi on this initiative to ensure that we reduce the amount of waste that will end up at the landfills.

We are working toward these solutions to create a circular economy that benefits society.